A new version of the ResNet USB Network Tester, or RUNT for short, has been released: "RUNT 3.2 has been released. This release contains minor security fixes. The kernel has been upgraded to 2.4.24, lftp has been upgraded to 2.6.10, and rsync has been updated to 2.5.7." Read the announcement of the project's home page. Download: runt-3.2.zip (40MB). RUNT is Slackware Linux designed to run off of a 128MB USB pen drive; it is intended to be a fairly complete Linux installation for use as a testing tool capable of booting on any x86 computer with a USB port and a bootable floppy drive.

RUNT (ResNet USB Network Tester) is Slackware Linux designed to run from a 128MB USB pen drive. It consists of a boot floppy image and a zip file, similar to "zipslack". It is intended to be a fairly complete Linux installation for use as a testing tool capable of booting on any x86 computer with a USB port and a bootable floppy drive. The boot floppy is based on Slackware's bare kernel. It contains an initial ramdisk to load USB-storage related modules and it pauses for 5 seconds to allow the drive to initialize. The bootdisk also contains Memtest86, a very useful RAM testing tool, which can be started by typing memtest at the boot prompt. The zip file contains a UMSDOS filesystem designed to be extracted onto a 128MB pen drive with an MSDOS filesystem using 2K clusters.

RUNT is a Slackware-based distribution designed to run from 256 MB bootable USB pen drives and containing a fairly complete (text mode only) Linux system for hardware and network testing. A new version 5.0 was announced earlier today: "RUNT 5.0 is built from Slackware 11.0 and has updated versions of nearly every package. Of greatest significance is the much newer 2.4.33.3 kernel, which now supports most SATA controllers, as well as prism54 wireless devices. With all of these updates comes a substantial increase in size. I was unable to keep RUNT under 128 MB this time and maintain the level of usability in past releases. This version takes up about 200 MB when unpacked, so at least a 256 MB flash drive formatted with 4k clusters is required." The release announcement, downloading links and installation instructions can be found on the project's home page. Get the zipped image from here: runt-5.0.zip (78.7MB).

Version 4.0 or RUNT (ResNet USB Network Tester), a Slackware-based distribution designed to run from a 128MB USB pen drive, has been released: "It's late in coming, but it's worth the wait. This is the biggest advancement RUNT has ever had! Here's a few of the new things RUNT 4.0 has to offer: new logo (thanks to Ken Elliot); scripts to make USB booting easier then ever; the bootdisk can be created from the pen drive, you don't need to download the floppy image separately; keyboard layout selection by typing keymap at the bootprompt; based on Slackware 10.0 with kernel 2.4.26; now has support for nForce built in ethernet devices; forum online; Bugzilla for bug reporting online." Read the release announcement and installation instructions on the project's home page. Download: runt-4.0.zip (54.3MB).

Version 3.1 of the ResNet USB Network Tester, or RUNT for short, has been released: "RUNT 3.1 has been released. The kernel has been updated to 2.4.23. A module is now available for the Cypress SL811HS USB host controller. I know nothing about this device or what uses it, so I did not include it on the bootdisk for this release. If it would be useful to anyone to be able to boot a USB storage device connected with such a controller, please email me and I will include this in future releases." See the full announcement on the distribution's web site. Download: runt-3.1.zip (48.5MB). RUNT is Slackware-based mini distribution designed to boot and run from a 128 MB USB pen drive.

A new version of the ResNet USB Network Tester, or RUNT, is now available: "RUNT 3.0 has been released! RUNT 3.0 is based on Slackware 9.1 including kernel 2.4.22. New additions include iptraf for network monitoring, iptables, allowing RUNT to be used as a firewall, and CD/DVD writing tools. SCSI controllers are now supported through hotplug. To use CD burning tools with an IDE drive, you must use ide-scsi by identifying your drive at the boot prompt. For example put 'usb hdc=ide-scsi' at the end of the boot prompt if your CD burner is your secondary master. I'm not certain the usefulness of CD burning abilities on a 128 MB drive, but I had the space, so I left it in. You can remove the package if you don't need it. Because of increased kernel size, memtest had to be removed from the boot disk, but it can still be run if you are able to boot directly off of the USB drive." See the announcement on the project's home page. Download: runt-3.0.zip (48.5MB).

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